The Issue
Mental imagery, the process by which people summon and think with images not immediately drawn from their senses has been a topic of contention in the field of Cognitive Science for some time. The question, in its most general sense, is whether or not people use mental imagery as a way of thinking about problems and arriving at solutions. Like many areas in cognitive science, philosophers, psychologists, and thinkers have struggled with how the mind works with imagery for thousands of years, and there is still no firm consensus on the matter. More recently, scientific experiments have been able to shed a great deal of light on how the brain works, and the ways in which it is subdivided functionally. More and more is being learned about the detailed workings of the mind all the time, and this has allowed for increased precision and scrutiny of the thoeries that are advanced about the use of mental imagery as an element of human cognition. As a result, the question of mental imagery has increasingly shifted from one of feasability to one of the implementation and pervasiveness of this form of thought. How does the brain deal with what we would call mental images? Just how much like a perceptual image is a mental image? These are the questions that are now being asked by the modern theories of mental imagery.
Alternatives
The first theory to examine is that there is no mental imagery to speak of - that mental imagery plays no part in human cognition, and that, regardless of the underlying explanatory mechanism postulated, humans do not make use of mental imagery. The second theory is that humans think only in mental imagery, to the exclusion of all other forms of thought. Like the first one, this theory adopts a...
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The ultimate goal for a system of visual perception is representing visual scenes. It is generally assumed that this requires an initial ‘break-down’ of complex visual stimuli into some kind of “discrete subunits” (De Valois & De Valois, 1980, p.316) which can then be passed on and further processed by the brain. The task thus arises of identifying these subunits as well as the means by which the visual system interprets and processes sensory input. An approach to visual scene analysis that prevailed for many years was that of individual cortical cells being ‘feature detectors’ with particular response-criteria. Though not self-proclaimed, Hubel and Wiesel’s theory of a hierarchical visual system employs a form of such feature detectors. I will here discuss: the origins of the feature detection theory; Hubel and Wiesel’s hierarchical theory of visual perception; criticism of the hierarchical nature of the theory; an alternative theory of receptive-field cells as spatial frequency detectors; and the possibility of reconciling these two theories with reference to parallel processing.
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Visual perceptions are supposed to have two sorts of content. First, they have intentional content which relates them as representations to the external world. The properties that constitute the intentional content are called representational or intentional qualities. Second, visual perce...
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This study aim is to determine the influence of mental imagery techniques on sport performance among UiTM female hockey player. In addition, it will be a significant to coach and athletes to enhance sport performances. Besides, they will be more concern about importance of imagery towards athletes. Furthermore, the benefit of this study can contribute to theory and knowledge in psychological field. Other than that, the result of this study can be a guideline for players or coaches to improve the performances.
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Often by comparing an idea to an object that can be symbolically related somehow, the level of understanding is increased, and then that object can later be used as a trigger mechanism for recalling the specifics of that concept (Matlin, 1998, p. 351). "…a visual image can let us escape from the boundaries of traditional representations. At the same time, however, the visual image is somewhat concrete; it serves as a symbol for a theory that has not yet bee...
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“Because we use and rely upon symbols, we do not respond to stimuli in a direct or automatic way. Rather, through drawing on symbols we give meaning to stimuli and act toward them based on that meaning”, (Sandstrom, Page17, 2014). As a reader it becomes apparent that author Sandstrom will be discussing how our minds have the ability to process our daily actions and interactions without causing for interruptions or pauses in our daily routines. The formation of symbolism and connecting meaning is so minuet, that; without placing thought towards the subject one would never know such a thing
The classic stories “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll consist of dreamlike adventures in a crazy world of nonsense. However this nonsense can be deciphered into a complex new system of thinking. This way of thinking can be transferred and directly applied to the mind. How the mind works, its many varying functions, and lastly the unconscious mind can all be tied to Alice. The unconscious mind can be compared to Alice, as can a dreamlike state of mind.
Children’s processing of information is elementary and so the “copying” of pictures in one’s head is just a crude system of percepti...
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